Nothing Slows Lee Meriwether Down

[Zoneboy]

When Lee Meriwether takes the stage in Reagle Players' production of "Mame," it won't be the first time she has played Mame Dennis.

She played her twice in the mid-to-late 1970s, some 20 years after she first stepped into the national spotlight by winning the Miss America Pageant in 1955, which led to an extremely active television and film career. At 74, she's still very beautiful and a workhorse.

"She's such fun," said Meriwether of Mame. "She's an amazing character, the most flamboyant woman I can imagine."

Mame is a madcap bohemian who becomes the guardian for her 10-year-old nephew when his father dies. She takes him on a series of adventures, and when she loses her wealth in the Great Depression she undertakes various jobs with considerable comic effect.

The musical's book was written by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee (based on the 1955 novel "Auntie Mame" by Patrick Dennis and on the subsequent play and film versions). The music and lyrics were written by Jerry Herman.

"Jerry has captured all that is truly wonderful about Auntie Mame," said Meriwether. "He has put his own inimitable stamp on it. He writes women so well....He knows what makes them tick. And he can write them with humor. That's his secret."

Meriwether said she's building her performance around the protectiveness that Mame feels for her nephew. "I can do anything around that, as long as that is steadfast and true," said Meriwether. "Her fierceness, protectiveness for Patrick is what I find stimulating and exciting to play."

She was surprised at how easily the show's tunes returned to her some 30 years after she last played the role, and by contrast how hard it was to memorize the lyrics. "The lines seem to be coming slowly," she said in an interview in June. "I thought they would come back like gangbusters." The show opens Thursday.

But she wasn't concerned. "I always arrive (at the first rehearsal) with words memorized," she said. "It puts everyone at ease." Her memorization trick is to use as many senses as possible. She writes out all of her lines. She records them and listens to them in her car. She speaks them out loud and reads them every day. She said the constant repetition is a big help.

One doesn't have to talk long with Meriwether to realize how hard working she is, and how open and kind.

Before arriving in Waltham, she worked on several scenes from "Mame" in a musical comedy workshop run by the spry 90-year-old film and stage actress Betty Garrett at Theatre West in North Hollywood, Calif. She has studied and performed at Theatre West almost since its inception in 1962, when it was founded to give New York actors a chance to stretch and challenge themselves between television sitcoms.

She knows something of the hard times that Mame experiences in the musical. When Meriwether was a child living with her parents and brother in Oregon, her father traveled to Kansas to work in the wheat fields. He also worked as a steamer in a hat factory.

Shortly after she was crowned Miss California, her father died. She was so devastated that she almost didn't participate in the Miss America Pageant in Atlantic City. But her mother and the head of the pageant encouraged her to, so as not to forego her scholarships or lose out on the much-needed $1,000 she would receive for just showing up. She was totally surprised when she won.

"Never give up," she said, commenting on what she had learned from her mother and those hard times. "Never give up. You can't just say, 'That's it, there no more.' You can't do that to yourself and your children. You have to go on."

The Miss America crown led to a stint on the "Today" show, covering fashion and lifestyle stories and sparring with then anchor Dave Garroway.

She used her scholarship money from the pageant to take private acting classes with Lee Strasberg. What she most remembers from the classes is that he told them not to copy the famous method actors, Marlon Brando or Geraldine Page, but encouraged them to build their own method and persona.

She took the advice when working on a production of "Hello, Dolly!" She couldn't get a hold of the title character until one day she heard herself say the line "Dolly Levi, formerly Gallagher." Suddenly realizing Dolly was Irish, she began to play her that way and with an Irish accent. "I became impish, almost cute. I was able to play her as pushy as I wanted to but cute. Then everything flowed and was easy as pie."

When she auditioned for the role of Catwoman in the 1966 Batman movie, she was struck by how buxom and gorgeous her competition was. She realized she wouldn't win the role for her looks, as good as they were, so she would have to do something memorable. As she sat down in a big armchair with the script to do the audition, she curled up like a cat and proceeded to lick her hands and knead them. And she lowered her voice into a sexy growl. It won her the part.

Meriwether is known for many roles, including Dr. Ann MacGregor in the television series "The Time Tunnel" (1966-1967), Lily Munster in the series "The Munsters Today" (1988-1991), and as Ruth Martin in the soap opera "All My Children" (beginning in 1996). But she's perhaps best known for her work as the private detective Betty Jones in "Barnaby Jones" (1973-1980), in which she played opposite Buddy Ebsen and became good friends with him. She was so busy doing theater at the time that she almost never saw an episode, except one that had been dubbed into Japanese and another into Spanish. She said the woman who played her in Spanish was so good that she wanted to meet her.

She met her second and current husband Marshall Borden while performing in a play with him, and they married in 1986 while performing in San Francisco in a play he wrote, "The Artful Lodgers." She has acted with her daughter Kyle Aletter-Oldham, and her daughter Lesley Aletter has stunt-doubled for her. Her first husband, Frank Aletter, is their father.

She recently played the role of Mary Tyrone in "Long Day's Journey Into Night" on stage. She's begun performing her one-woman show, "The Women of Spoon River: Their Voices from the Hill," based on Edgar Lee Master's "Spoon River Anthology." She has been working on her autobiography with Jim Hesselman, and she's a strong advocate for AbilityFirst, which runs a camp and other programs for children and adults with disabilities.

So why is she still working so hard at an age when most people are happy to retire? "Being on a fixed income, I had to cut down on my spending or get some work," Meriwether said. "I love to work. I do enjoy it. I love going new places, playing different people, meeting different people."

Coming to Reagle Players will give her opportunities for all that and more.


http://www.dailynewstribune.com/news...eriwether-down

[comedyfreak]

I'm glad she's doing so well she's a great actress. I was wondering what she's been up to as of late. I guess in todays mess no one can really afford to retire.

[catlover79]

I've always liked Lee and wish her all the best!!